


Kickin' His Shadow

by FancyFree2813



Category: due South
Genre: Gen, The characters are left for the reader to determine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27476893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FancyFree2813/pseuds/FancyFree2813
Summary: What must it be like to constantly live in the shadow of a famous partner? The last of my responses to my own challenge to write, in 1000 words or less, a story that carries the title of a song from the Gross and Keeley CD Give the Dog a Bone.
Comments: 14





	Kickin' His Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> I went a little over on the 1000 word limit on this one...

The tiny bistro was packed with the noontime rush as the young woman waited for the man who had promised to meet her here. The high brick walls of the narrow space that comprised the dining room were lined with countless old and some brand new theater playbills, posters and famous actor’s autographed photos. She smiled as she glanced from one to another, reading advertisements for 'Hamlet', 'The Three Musketeers' and 'Mama Mia!'. Well, she thought to herself, this is the theater district.

She sat with her back to the kitchen in order to watch for him to enter. He was only a few minutes late, but she was beginning to wonder if he was going to stand her up. The waiter had just refilled her water glass for the third time when she spotted him making his way through the crowd.

She was mildly surprised. She'd seen pictures of them, of course, but just like hundreds of other women in this city, whenever they made the news, after one of their latest exploits, she'd focused on this man's partner, the Canadian with the startling slate gray eyes and the thousand watt smile. It was not like her to miss the man who shared those newspaper photos with him, the man that she watched closely as he drew near. She hadn't realized that the man walking toward her was so tall, or so very good-looking.

She watched as he approached and wondered what it must be like for him, and immediately decided to change her approach to this interview.

"I'm so sorry I'm late! Traffic you know," he apologized as he dropped casually into the chair across from her.

She looked at him for a long moment before she responded. "It's not a problem at all. I just appreciate you taking the time to meet with me."

She didn't speak again while he gave the menu a cursory once over. He'd been here before, she could tell, and apparently already knew what he would order.

"Have you eaten at ‘Sam’s’ before?" he asked. When she shook her head he continued, "they have a really great Thai chicken salad."

Just the ticket for a hot July afternoon, she thought. "Sounds fine to me."

The waiter miraculously appeared just as she had finished speaking and her companion ordered for both of them. She was only mildly surprised by his old world manners.

Pulling a small tape recorder out of her bag she held it up so that he could see. "Do you mind? I find that when I interview people I can keep the facts much clearer if I have them in your own words."

He shrugged and held up his hands, "no problem here."

"So what's it like for you, being his partner I mean?"

That sat him back in his chair, she’d surprised him. He obviously wasn’t used to interviewers being curious about him, only about the man he was partnered with. 

"Well . . . "

She reached up and turned off the tape recorder. "Let's do this off the record for a minute, okay?" She thought that he looked rather nervous, and perhaps a little shy. "It must be kind of rough, having someone like him for a partner. I mean he's like perfect, or something."

He laughed out loud. "Oh, I've known him along time now, and believe me he's not perfect!"

She liked the sound of his laughter. It was infectious and bright. It rang clearly in the noisy confines of this place. She liked his smile too, unaffected and genuine. Completely real. Once again she had to wonder what it must be like for him to live in the shadow of the man whom she had heard some of her female colleagues refer to as ‘God’s gift to women'.

She couldn't help herself from commenting, "you're a very attractive man, yet the interviews and articles always seem to be about him and 'his partner'. Doesn't that get to you at times?"

He fiddled with his napkin for a few moments while avoiding her eyes, obviously weighing his response very carefully. "Yeah, I guess sometimes it does. Don't get me wrong, he's very good at what he does, the best I've ever known in some ways, and I love him like a brother. But yeah, sometimes I would like the credit for something we've done together." She almost felt as if it were the first time he had ever admitted that to anyone, even himself.

She'd known when she saw the tall, yummy man enter the restaurant that the tone of her interview had changed. Now the subject of her interview had changed too. She had come here to find out all about the famous one, his partner. Now she wanted to know everything she could about the gracious, unassuming gentleman who sat across the table from her.

"Wouldn’t you like to get out from under his shadow? Make a name for yourself, and no longer be known just as 'the partner'?"

He looked at her with wide, concerned eyes. "I don’t know." And she could tell he truly didn't know. "He doesn't do it on purpose, you know. The accolades and adoration bewilder and even frighten him. He doesn't seek it out . . ."

"No, I’m sure he doesn’t.” Although in her experience that would be a first. But there was something about the Canadian that made her think that what this man said was true. “I think maybe he's just been blessed with a kind of natural magnetism--" She paused while the waiter sat their salads and drinks in front of them. "But that doesn't mean that you can't be known in your own right."

He nodded his head slowly. Maybe it would feel good to be his partner and his friend and still have someone know his name too, to have someone notice him when they were together, and recognize him when they weren’t.

He gifted her with a brilliant smile that she thought just might put that other guy’s thousand water to shame. She smiled in return. "Good! Because I might just be able to help you begin kickin' his shadow.” She reached over and snapped the recorder back on. Her eyes sought his for just a moment, as if the reassure him. “So, why don’t we start by you telling me a little something about yourself?”


End file.
